MEET TEAM ABRA

I would like to express my gratitude for matching me with Abra. She is a joy to be around!  You can’t help but smile when you see her happy face and enthusiasm. She’s incredibly smart and sweet.

I’m late deafened, which means I know, and sometimes mourn, the sounds and awareness of my environment that I used to know. Until Abra came into my life, I had to rely on a combination of visual alerts, assistance from my social network and “hoping for the best” when neither of those options were available. It can be embarrassing being told that someone was calling your name loudly in a social setting and that you were “ignoring them”. It can feel unsettling knowing that you’re not going to hear a fire alarm.

Thanks to Abra, I no longer have those concerns. She alerts me when my name is called. She also alerts to the smoke detector, items such as keys being dropped, the FaceTime signal on my phone and people knocking at my door. At the airport, the luggage carousel signal reminds her of the smoke detector, and she alerts me accordingly. I’m hoping to add additional sounds to her repertoire.

My friends and family all adore Abra and also report positive changes in me since Abra has come into my life. They say I seem more relaxed and confident.

I’ve recently taken on temporary caregiving responsibilities for a family member out of town. Abra has been invaluable alerting me whenever I’m needed, day or night. She quickly realized that I needed to be present when this person gets up, and she quickly started alerting me appropriately when they start to move without calling my name. This is in addition to providing significant stress relief and entertainment to all of us!

My thanks to our trainer, Ashley Siddals, the breeders The Clark Family, the puppy raisers Angela and Murray Smith and Kris Papps, the advanced sitters Ellen Proctor and Kerry Shepherd and for providing the puppy bursary Jonathan Young, as well as George and Margaret for guiding Abra and I to this point. And thank you to all those who support PADS, whether via donations or volunteer work.

You’re truly changing lives! – Abra’s Partner